disposal

Posted December 22nd, 2011 by Randall B. Keil

We have been disposing of lionfish by clipping off their fins, cutting them open and leaving them on the bottom. My thinking has been that whatever nutrients they've taken out of the ecosystem will be returned. Larger predetors may find the bodies, eat them and figure out that they are food.

In my personal experience when we can get a hold of a lionfish (either by spear or net) we keep it to eat then dispose of the carcass after. If for some reason we are not able to bring the lionfish up (say lack of materials or boat-handling rules) we just make certain that the animal is without questions dead and leave the carcass floating along the ocean floor. In regards to the later method, we have not been removing the spines as there have been a number of reports of larger predatory animals consuming the lionfish without harmful effects; This way we are keeping ourselves safer underwater as well by handling them as little as possible. However, your outlook at leaving the animal to recycle whatever nutrients they have taken is a sound one and maybe a good topic of discussion with an bio-toxicologist or even at one of REEF's Lionfish handling classes/online fishnars.